Verizon lays out plans for fiber network

Verizon laid out its plans to challenge cable companies Thursday, stating that they plan to begin offering video over fiber optic lines to consumers as early as 2005. Initial products will be on par with traditional cable and satellite TV, but the bandwidth available in fiber networks will eventually allow them to push through other offerings.

"We have a huge opportunity," Paul Lacouture, Verizon's president of network services, told Reuters. Fiber optics "allows us to get beyond parity with cable and get to a video product that will be different from the traditional 150 channels on cable and satellite." The largest U.S. local phone company outlined the plans as part of its strategy to spend $1 billion on laying the foundation for a fiber optic network connecting homes and businesses in nine states. The company has committed to making the new network available to one million homes and businesses by the end of the year, with another two million added next year.

By the way, if you are one of the lucky three million, you will also be able to get DSL with speeds of up to 30Mbps.

Plans call for the high-speed DSL service to come online by the end of this year, with the additional video services to follow some time in 2005. As we reported last week, the larger US telcos are planning on laying fiber networks, a necessary move if they hope to compete with cable providers for not only high-speed 'Net access and video offerings, but for telephony services as well. Verizon is leading the pack at this point, but expect SBC, Qwest, and other regional incumbent telcos to make similar moves.